Corrupted Gem
by Anna M. Grace
Summary: (TBH THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE SEASON 2! MY PERIDOT AND THE CANNON PERIDOT ARE NOT THE SAME!) Every mission is the same, there's a monster, the gem's fight, pearl tries to send Steven home, bla bla bla. But what happens when a real threat to Gem kind is the monster they are facing? And what happens when that monster gets a hold of Steven before Pearl can send him home?
1. Chapter 1

Garnet zoomed towards the ground, her body spinning from the impact. She righted her self and without missing a beat, bounced back in to the path of the multi-eyed bird. Steven shielded his eyes, loosing creature as it flew in front of the sun, throwing billions of rainbows with it's crystalline wings. He let out an "Ooph!" As Amethyst tackled him, rolling out of the path of the thing's beak as it fell towards the earth.  
"Try not to get killed OK?" She joked. She jumped up and slung her whip towards the stuck bird. It thrashed wildly trying to free it's razor sharp beak from the hard ground as Amethyst's weapon tightened around it's head. It lurched up and freed it's self, throwing it's head back and tossing Amethyst high in to the air. It flapped hard, blowing the other two Gems back while making it's way back in to the air.  
Steven watched in awe as his friends fought the ferocious creature.  
"Lion give me my sword so I can help." Steven instructed turning to the giant fuzzy beast. It stared at him blankly then laid down in a ball.  
Steven pouted and turned his attention to his gem.  
"Give me my shield?" He tapped it but nothing happened as usual.  
He turned his head just as the bird landed next to him, throwing up a huge gust of wind that sent him flying. He landed hard and looked up to see Pearl jump on to it's back as it took off in to the air then turned to charge again.  
" I'm ok!" He waved.  
"Get Steven out of here Amethyst !" Pearl shouted over her shoulder, crouching low to stay balanced.  
" No!" He whined, " I wanna stay and help!"  
"Oh come on Pearl! What's the point of bringin' him if you're gonna send him home when things start getting good?" Amethyst pulled Steven out of the path of the charging bird and wrapped the whip around it's beak, letting the boy down before jumping back in to the action.  
"I do not send him home every time!" Pearl argued, jumping up to the thing's neck.  
"You really do though." Garnet said, clutching tightly to the bird's stomach. It flew about spastically trying to dislodge the Gems but froze solid as Garnet pushed her fist through its crystal coated belly,  
"Garnet!" Pearl whined as she back flipped in to the air and landed gracefully. "I just want to make sure he stays safe!" She crossed her arms and stuck her nose up but changed her stance when Garnet put a firm hand on her shoulder.  
Amethyst did a cartwheel and whooped loudly high-fiveing the smiling red Gem.  
"Oh my gosh guys that was so cool!" Steven ran towards them with stars in his eyes as tiny glassy fragments rained down around them. He high-fived Amethyst then calmed down when he saw the sudden look of concern on the two taller Gem's faces.  
"That's odd." Garnet said quietly, rubbing her forehead.  
"What's wrong?" Steven asked.  
Pearl shook her head silencing him and looked around.  
Garnet pulled off her glasses as a look of pain crossed her usually expressionless face. Her third eye was going crazy.  
"Where's the gem? We killed the thing right?" Amethyst got serious as she scooped up the tiny bits of star dust that littered the ground and looked up at her friends.  
"That wasn't the main target." Pearl said quietly. The ground suddenly began to tremor and a boiling fissure opened near them. Garnet regained her composure and slid her glasses back on to place but Steven noticed a slight look of panic as lava began flowing up and out of the fissure.  
"Get Steven out of here now!" Pearl said in a panicked tone. Garnet grabbed the small boy and dashed for the Telepad just as a wall of green fire shot up, stopping them in their tracks.  
"Aloha my gems!"  
Steven's eyes went wide as a tall green skinned Gem walked casually through the ring of fire surrounding them.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's been a long time." She smiled with fat olive green lips. "I see you've acquired a human. How cute."  
"How are you here?" Pearl asked. Steven looked down at her from his place nestled in Garnet's arm and flinched.  
Pearl looked scared.  
" Did ya miss me? It took a long time to get out of that cell Pearl! You did a good job on that one. Rose would have been proud." The gem's voice was full of excitement as she sauntered towards them reaching her right hand towards her left eye. The small tear drop shaped gem on her cheek glowed softly as she ran her hand over it. Reaching up with her left hand, she made the same type of motion to a second gem under her right eye. Her gems glowed as two long poles materialized out of them then she snapped the poles together making one long baton. The ends burst in to flame as she suddenly swung it out towards the group.  
"And now that I'm free, I can finish what I started." She lunged at the group then, swinging her baton around wildly. Garnet dropped Steven and pushed him towards the Telepad. "Just think of home, the pad will do the rest." She instructed.  
Steven nodded, knowing this was a battle he needed to stay out of, and ran towards the edge of the ring. The green flames singed his skin as he got close but he could see the Telepad just mere inches away.  
He pulled up his shirt and tapped his gem. "Come on shield, I could really use you right now!"  
A fire ball exploded against the fire wall, startling him and making him fall.  
"What's this?" She said grabbing him by the foot and lifted him in to the air.  
Steven's shirt fell up exposing his stomach and she started, almost dropping him.  
"Peridot! Leave him alone!" Pearl ran at her, weapon ready and flipped in to the air landing a solid hit on the green gem's outstretched arm causing Steven to fall in to Amethyst's ready hands.  
Garnet charged towards them and the three gems surrounded Peridot with Steven safely tucked behind Pearl. He stared at the tall pale green lady. She looked around at her opponents with cool expressionless grey eyes and her, almost black, green hair swung in a complicated braid, just brushing the dirty ground she stood on. She looked like a hula girl or like garnet in her bathing suit only green and a little bit shorter.  
His attention snapped back to to the fight before him when Peridot jumped high over their heads, hooked Steven with her baton and disappeared over the flames. She bounded a couple paces then stopped and ripped his shirt over his head.  
He flailed wildly as she prodded his gem and finally freed his face taking in a deep lungful of air.  
He could hear the Gems calling out to him but couldn't see them through the flames.  
"Why do you have this gem?" Peridot demanded.  
"I was born with it!" He said defensively.  
"That is impossible. That's Rose Quartz's gem. " she stared at him with a look of sadness in her eyes.  
"Rose is my mom." He blushed as she sat him down and looked up.  
"That explains Pearl then. Heh and all this time I thought she was dead."  
He looked up at her in confusion. What was that suppose to mean?  
He turned his attention to the three gems barreling towards him.  
"Enough!" Peridot called out, holding her baton over Steven's head.  
The three gems froze. Peridot smiled, finally have gotten their full, nonviolent, attention.  
"You know why I'm here, and I don't plan on leaving until the three." She stopped and looked down at Steven." Heh, four of your gems are mine."  
" We don't want to hurt you Peridot. You're sick, we understand that. Your mind is sick and if you let us, we can help you." Pearl walked forward with her hand extended.  
"Funny isn't it? Peridot's mind doesn't work? Heh, sweet irony." The green gem sneered and, before anyone had time to react, swung her weapon and batted Pearl away like a rag doll.  
"Pearl!" Steven yelled. He tried to run towards her but Peridot slammed the baton in to the ground in front of him, sending up a shower of flaming sparks that sent him flailing backwards.  
"I'm fine Steven, just stay calm!" Pearl called.  
"Come on you psycho, give him back!" Amethyst ran as fast as she could, faking out the green gem and grabbing Steven. She made a b-line for the Telepad with Steven bouncing wildly over her shoulder.  
"Ahh! Amethyst! She's-" Steven's warning was cut off as the baton flew towards them, bent in the center like a boomerang. It slammed in to Amethyst's back, throwing her forward with so much force Steven launched in to the air.  
Garnet made her move diving for the flailing boy but was intercepted by Peridot.  
"Why is this thing so important to you?!" Peridot laughed, flipped through the air and bounced off of Garnet's back, sending her towards the hard ground below.  
"Because we are his friends and we love him!" Garnet said pushing off of the cool stone and launching herself back in to the air, her fists aimed towards the gem.  
Peridot smiled hatefully and grabbed Steven," He's a human with a stolen Gem. You should hate him as much as you hate me!" Holding him like a sack of flour under her arm, she landed gracefully and spun her baton with one hand over her head.  
"Ahh you guys!" He exclaimed.  
Peridot spun in a tight circle and threw up a wall of fire around her self.  
The gems panicked as Peridot and Steven's images faded in to the flames.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah it's hot!" Steven flailed wildly as the flames closed in all around him. He squeezed his eyes shut and yelled.  
"Relax kid, it's over." She walked a couple paces and Sat him down to wave her had over a stone wall causing it to open like a Gem's door. Steven squinted his eyes and looked around. They were in some kind of cave and it took him a moment to realize they had gotten there on the Telepad.  
"Wh-why did you attack my friends?" He asked, running towards the Gem. "And why did you take me?" He looked around the barren cavern and shivered. It was really cold.  
"Don't you like my home?" She said with mock sadness.  
"You live here?" Steven gasped.  
"What's wrong with it?" She asked sounding almost offended.  
"It's just so..." He searched for the right word to use. " empty. Where's all your stuff? Don't you even have a tv? Where do your friends sit?"  
"You want to see my friends?" She smiled and walked past him. He followed her through the cave and gasped as they came to a room with the walls embedded with gemstones of all shapes and colors.  
"A-are these all-"  
"They are the crystals from the Gems I have... Collected."  
He stared at her then looked at the wall. "But the gems don't come off, does that mean... Do you collect the corrupted gems too?.."  
"Heh, I am the corrupted gem." She smiled down at him as realization took over his face.  
he started to speak but he trailed off and looked at her in horror.  
"If you can manage to kill a Gem before they regenerate, you don't have to crush the stone. I have this beautiful room because it's a hobby I've gotten quite good at."  
She tickled his chin but he pulled his head away. "And soon my little stolen Quartz, you can join them."  
Steven placed his hand against one of the stones and felt tears in his eyes.  
"They were Gems too. Good ones... They could have been your friends."  
"I don't need friends, I have my collections " She squatted down and looked at him.  
"You have to have friends! It'll drive someone crazy to be alone!" He looked up as she stood upright.  
"I'm not crazy! I am the unlovable gem. I bring bad luck where ever I go so no one would stay by my side." Her voice was thick with pain as she blushed dark green. "So I did what I had to. Now none of them can ever leave."  
"You've been alone all this time?" Seven sat back, dumbfounded.  
"I don't mind it." She smiled. "The seclusion. It gives me time to think, time to plan."  
"It effects you enough to do what you're doing. It makes you want to hurt them like they hurt you!" Steven blushed as tears welled in his eyes. he lowered his voice and continued. "No, I mean... I get it. Being lonely... It's awful." He stood and took a step towards her. "That's why you've got to find friends like I did. Pearl and Garnet and Amethyst and dad, and even Lars and Sadie and all those guys, they may be mean some times or treat me like a dumb kid, but they make me not so lonely."  
The gem regarded the small boy with interest.  
"You are a foolish human." She smiled. Bending down again to come to eye level with him, she ruffled his hair and picked him up. "You can say you know the cold hand of loneliness but you will never understand why I do what I do."  
Steven panicked slightly as the small tear drop shaped gems under her eyes glowed.  
"No I do understand!"  
Five long flat force fields came together under him like a topless shoe box. She dangled him over it for a moment, staring hard at his gem, then dropped his squirming figure.  
"Here, cozy right? Those friends of yours are giving me a headache." He fell hard in to a large clear square box that was about twice his height and as long and wide as a king mattress.  
She turned and looked hard at him.  
"I cant believe I'm finally going to have Rose's gem. It's like a dream come true." Something shone behind her eyes but Steven couldn't tell if it was sadness or anger or some other emotion. This Gem was insane and he felt ashamed under her gaze but couldn't pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. He started to talk but the box sealed above him, trapping him, though he could still hear and see the Gem.  
"You don't have to hurt them Peridot. They-, we can be your friends! We're all Gems!" Steven pressed his hands against the wall and stared out at her. "You can join our group! We live on kind of a tiny house but-"  
She looked down at him with malice "Heh. You a gem? You're as bad as I am. What exactly happened that Rose Quartz sacrificed her self for a human baby? You aren't even worthy of bearing that Gem, you're practically dirt. Do you think I would lower my self to that? You and those weaklings you call gems are an embarrassment!" She stood tall and confident.  
"That's not true, I am a gem!" Steven demanded. "And Pearl and Amethyst and Garnet, they are smart and kind and strong and they always protect me!"  
"They did a really good job of protecting you from me didn't they?" She asked in a mocking tone. Steven balled his fists in frustration.  
"They'll find me soon! They are gonna get me out of here and they'll defeat you like they do every other monster!"  
She flinched at that last part then turned away.  
"That's right, I'm a monster," she turned away and headed back towards the telipad and grimaced. "And no one can stop me. And, while I'm feeling playful, just incase they do find you before I get back, let's leave them a little something worth finding."  
With that, the walls of Steven's prison blackened, leaving him alone in complete oppressing darkness.

"Garnet? Pearl?" He called out but his voice didn't seem to carry, as if the box it's self had swallowed his words. He bit his lip and tried to hold back tears "Amethyst? Lion! Any body?! Help me!"  
He slammed his hand against the wall then slumped down and brought his knees up. His gem began glowing dimly providing light in the otherwise dark room. He focused hard trying to make something happen but besides glow, the gem didn't respond.  
"Ugh! Why don't you ever work!" She was right. He wasn't really a Gem. He had no powers, he was useless in battle, and all he ever did was attract monsters or cause the Gems to get hurt.  
He stood and paced in the small area. It was getting muggy ad it almost seemed harder to breath. Steven slammed his hands against the wall again and again in frustration until he could barely move his arms at all. His breath came in short puffs as his lungs worked to pull the oxygen from the heavy air.  
He slumped back against the wall and tried to stay calm. No, he was a Crystal Gem and they were his family. She was just trying to get in to his head.  
"I'll be OK." He wheezed to himself. "Pearl." gasp "and Garnet." Gasp."and Amethyst..." Gasp. Gasp... "Will help... Me..."


	4. Chapter 4

Pearl hovered over the bushy haired gem, staring hard in to the eye on Garnet's forehead.  
" Oooh, have you gotten through to him yet?" She bounced on the balls of her feet then started pacing again.  
"I'm doing my best" Garnet replied calmly. Her gems glowed and while her normal eyes were closed in concentration, her third eye darted around spastically.  
"Well try harder!" Pearl demanded. "Who knows what she's doing to him right now!"  
"Chillax Pearl, Steven's a big boy, he can at least hold his own till we find him." Amethyst laid on the couch with her arm draped over her eyes. She was struggling to not be reverted back to a gem. She had to stay conscious to help find Steven...  
"Ugh!" pearl spat, "it's your fault he got taken in the first place! if you had gone when I said!" she bit back tears and took a steadying breath. "Do you not realize who we are talking about here? Peridot is the one who is known as the collector! She tried in more than one occasion to take Rose's gem but Rose could defeat her! Now that she's gone we're practically part of her collection and now she has Ste-"  
"I've found him!" Garnet interrupted. She shot up and ran to the portal.  
"Come on, we don't have time to keep bickering." She demanded.

The Telipad let them out on a hard rock field with a huge cliff cornering them. Garnet reacted first, grabbing the other two gems and jumping up, using her leverage against the cliff face to launch herself over the green Gem's head.  
Peridot put a hand on her hip and smiled.  
"I forgot about your little talent of anticipation Garnet." She sneered. "That third eye creeps me out." She rushed the group and swung her baton, scattering the Gems in to different directions.  
Peridot smiled and slammed her baton in to the ground. The Gems looked around in anticipation as the rocks began to tremble. Large funnels of lava shot in to the sky and immediately solidified in to tall pillars blocking out a significant amount of light. A thin mist began to cover the ground as the green Gem continued.  
"Oh, you're in for such a treat Pearl! I've learned so many new tricks since last time we fought!"  
She stared the pale blue Gem down and reacted just as Amethyst's whip wrapped around her.  
Peridot crouched in to a ball then splayed herself out, tearing the whip and making it disappear. She swung her foot out and slammed it hard in to Amethyst's head, sending the purple Gem flying in to the rock wall. Amethyst stood shakily, then fell in a puff, finally unable to keep herself from reverting back in to gem form.  
Peridot beamed and scooped the crystal up.  
"Ooh! I've been wanting this one for a while!"  
Garnet and Pearl ran at her, weaving back and forth in a figure eight before splitting off in two different directions and flying towards Peridot.  
She regarded the gems and stood completely still waiting for them to get in range. As they advanced, she pulled on her baton making the staff grow longer, incredibly fast. She spun it just barely missing her attackers.  
Peridot cursed and suddenly sunk in to the ground, confusing the two gems.  
"Watch this!"  
Pearl and Garnet braced them selves as Peridot's voice rang out from every fissure in the cracked rocky earth. The pillars began to crumble and litter the ground with huge rock chunks and something smelled hot.  
"Brace your self Pearl." Garnet warned.  
"She's never done this before." Pearl grimaced. She looked around trying to catch a glimpse of the gem but thick clouds of steam rising up through the rocky mess disrupted her view.  
Geysers of lava suddenly erupted all around them, driving them apart. Garnet grunted as a stream caught her on the side and up her leg. Her suit frayed and her dark skin took a deep red shade.  
Pearl bounced between the pieces of breaking rocks and made her way back towards Garnet.  
Her foot landed hard on a stone and she was thrown back as Peridot pushed up and out of the molten ground. Her long hair flowed with the melting rocks and her pale green skin glowed with a slight reddish tone as she taunted Pearl.  
"Awe did you fall." She stuck out her bottom lip then dived back in to the ground with a green flare up. Pearl made her way to her feet and breathed deeply, trying not to panic. She pulled a second staff out of her gem and stood solidly in anticipation.  
"Since when are you a coward?" She called out.  
A heavy slab of stone suddenly smashed in to her back, knocking her to the ground again. Pearl moved to stand but Peridot's hand shot up through a thin crack and pulled pearl's head down hard.  
Pearl cried out as her gem smashed the ground with a glassy tink, and struggled hard as the hand pulled her head down again.  
An extreme force smashed in to pearl then and Peridot cried out as Her arm was wrenched at an unnatural angle.  
Garnet rolled across the ground, hugging pearl close to her. She pushed Pearl back to arms length and stared at her forehead.  
"I'm fine Garnet." Pearl said, moving to stand. She wobbled and fell back, landing in Garnet's lap.  
"Pearl go home, it's cracked." Garnet stood and faced Peridot, who was standing somewhat far off watching them with a smug look.  
"Not until we find Steven. It's tiny so I'll be fine till then." She stood defiantly and stared at Peridot.  
The green gem waved her fingers at them then hit the ground, sending up a huge geyser of lava that sent Garnet scrambling out of the way.  
"Pearl we need more power, if you want any chance of defeating her before your gem breaks we are going to have to fuse!" Garnet said landing next to the battered gem.  
"Yes fuse, let me face the opponent I  
really came here to battle!" Peridot bellowed. Her long flaming baton whirled past them in it's boomerang shape before settling firmly in to the hand of their opponent.  
Pearl supported her weight on her staff and looked up at Garnet. Her uniform was torn in various places and her glasses were missing. Pearl herself was bruised and torn and she felt weak.  
"We can't fuse now Garnet. She'll kill us." Pearl was too exhausted even to cry, which she felt like doing, but she had to be strong...  
"In the real way."  
Steven's voice echoed through her head and she winced. "Just give us Steven!" She screamed pitifully.  
Garnet grabbed her shoulders and squeezed them gently.  
"I'm going to get Steven back no matter what happens." She pushed her hands together and her gauntlets overtook her fists. Garnet leapt through the obstacles of broken pillars and debris that was being flung at her as Peridot danced through the ruins. Garnet stretched her arms out, making her hands double, triple in size before faking out the green gem and managing to land a solid hit on the side of her head.  
Peridot bellowed in anger as she slammed hard in to the ground, but wasted no time bouncing up and lunging at Garnet.  
Garnet was ready however and used her arm like a long stretchy whip to once again plow the furious gem in to the ground.  
Peridot began to sink but was kicked high in to the air by Pearl then smashed in to a near pillar.  
"Don't let her touch the ground!" Pearl instructed.  
Peridot smiled hatefully and used the split second to lunge at Pearl. She hit the Gem with a crunch and drove her in to the ground.  
Before she could land another hit, Garnet tackled her and hit her in to the air. Peridot tried to react but the fury of the gem before her left her stunned. The calm demure red and blue stoned gems had never acted out like this before and while it was exciting to have a true challenger, she was terrified.  
Garnet linked her hands together and hit Peridot from the side sending her in to a pillar then slammed her against the rock with her entire weight. Garnet pulled back her fist and plowed it in to the girl again and again hitting blindly as dust rose all around them.  
Pearl gasped in horror as she heard a loud cracking noise as Peridot was pinned against the pillar.  
" Garnet! Stop it! You're going to kill her!" Pearl ran towards the duo as fast as she could and stood between the two as Garnet began to swing her over sized fist towards Peridot again.  
Pearl didn't even flinch as Garnet's hand stopped only centimeters from her face. The dust Garnet had disturbed began to settle as the three gems worked to catch their breath. Peridot hunched, broken and bruised, unable to move as Pearl put a small hand on her friend's clenched fist. Garnet's three eyes were opened wide in anger but slowly relaxed as Pearl stared at her.  
"Don't be like her Garnet. Don't kill a gem. Remember what Rose told us. She may still be fixable." Pearl reasoned. She twitched slightlurched glitched for a split second. "Plus," she continued, turning to the now standing Gem. "We need her to tell us where Steven is."  
Pearl took a step towards the broken gem and stood over her.  
"Hah," Peridot gasped. "I'm not going to stop you know. I'm going to keep killing all of the gems until i am all that's left." Her voice was weak but dripping with purpose. "your little human isn't even alive any more. He was barely breathing when I left, by now his tiny human body has run out of definitely looks like my collection is almost complete!" she lunged her baton toward's garnet with one last burst of effort but was pushed back as pearl plunged her staff through Peridot's chest.  
She started to say something but pearl cut her off. The crack in Pearl's gem had grown and she held a wild look in her eye.  
"You have to be stopped, and I'm so sorry Peridot, but you aren't a gem. you are a wicked being." she twisted the staff and a look of pure fear crossed the green Gem's face. "I didn't want it to come to this but you aren't fixable. " pearl's eyes held sadness and fury as she twisted the staff in to Peridot's chest again, reverting her back to the clouded jade green stones before using the blunt end of her weapon to smash them in to stardust.  
Pure rage and remorse shone on Pearl's face as Garnet stood in shock. She reached out to the small pale Gem but didn't dare touch her.  
"Come now Pearl. We need to find Steven."  
Pearl's glazed eyes regained focus as what Peridot had said registered.  
"Didn't you hear her? Steven is... Steven is..." She fell to her knees and sobbed in to her hands. Her entire body shook. All of this, loosing Steven, breaking her stone, and killing a gem, it was all too much.  
"I can't do it Garnet! I can't do this!" She shook as tears poured from her eyes while Garnet stood behind her. Pearl steed at her hands as she began glitching harder.  
Pearl's gem made a light tinkling noise as the tiny hair sized cracks spread through it.  
The red gem tried her best to hold back her own tears but the events of the day came crashing down on her.  
Without another thought Garnet flew towards the pillars, smashing each one in a fit of hysteria. She ripped them apart looking for any clue of the boy but as the minutes of destruction and panic wore on, her faith in finding him dwindled.  
Finally defeated, she fell to her knees and screamed.  
She looked back with blazing eyes as Pearl's hand rested on her shoulder. The tiny blue gem looked down at her with sadness but understanding.  
"What will we do without him?" Garnet asked.  
"I don't know." Pearl tried hard to stop the shaking in her voice. She could feel herself fading out. She was going to revert soon. And after that...  
"What... What do we do now?" Garnet looked down at her scratched hands and balled them in to fists.  
Pearl's eyes welled up again but she swallowed her tears and looked out at the expanse of destroyed land.  
"We have to find Amethyst and... I suppose go home."  
Garnet stood and nodded in a solemn agreement. "But it won't be home with out Steven.


	5. Chapter 5

They didn't spend long looking for Amethyst, Garnet was able to sense her after only a few moments. The round gem lay near the telepad, where Peridot had first sunk in to the ground, and glowed softly as they approached.  
Pearl cradled Amethyst's gem in her arm as she and Garnet stepped on to the transporter.  
As they drifted through the abyss a strange humming noise began to fill the space. That soon turned in to a familiar sounding song.  
"what on earth...?" Pearl flinched. "Isn't that Craig's song?" Pearl strained her ears to listen as Garnet's puffy eyes shot up.  
"There is someone in the house." She pushed Pearl behind her as they landed in their living room. Garnet and Pearl both gasped, jaws practically hitting the floor at the sight before them.  
A pink, fluffy haired woman sat on their couch rocking and humming a familiar song to a softly snoring Steven.  
Pearl took a hesitant step forward and reached out with shaking fingers.  
"Rose?" She glitched and took another step forward.  
The gem turned her head towards the battered duo and smiled, placing a finger to her lips to shush them. Rose slowly stood placing the sleeping boy on the couch and approached them.  
"How my boy has grown." She wiped a small tear from Pearl's face and looked up at Garnet. "How you all have grown."  
Pearl looked at her confused and said "But you know that Gems don't grow..."  
Rose chuckled at Pearl's misunderstanding. She spread her arms as the gems fell against her but Rose disappeared in a puff of clouds as they tried to embrace her. Pearl gasped as tiny watery droplets coated her Gem, sealing the cracks and making her feel whole again.  
"Mom?" Pearl and Garnet looked up as Steven sat up rubbing his eyes.  
"Oh Steven!" Pearl ran and wrapped him in a suffocating hug and cried against him. "We couldn't find you Steven! We thought- we thought-" Pearl's words were lost in her sobs and Steven hugged her back as she cried.  
"I'm ok Pearl, I promise, my mom..." He looked around but he knew she wouldn't be there. "She saved me."  
Pearl took a step back and looked at the young gem. He was battered and his hands were bruised but he was really no worse for wear.  
"I couldn't breathe and I passed out but I dreamed that she came and carried me home." Tears welled in his eyes. "But she wasn't real was she? I made her when my gem reacted to my emotions like all those other times right?"  
Garnet and Pearl looked at one another.  
"She is real Steven." Garnet said.  
Pearl put a hand to his chest and smiled.  
"She's in here Steven, in all of us. If that doesn't make her real then I don't know what does."  
Steven smiled brightly, wiping his eyes then jumped as Amethyst's gem began to shake violently.  
She burst out if it with a blinding light and stood in a defensive stance, then looked around in confusion.  
"So I guess we won huh? Cool." Shrugging she walked past the group and towards the kitchen and began rummaging through the fridge.  
"I guess every thing'll just go back to normal now right?" Steven looked up at his friends with a sad smile.  
"Of course Steven. Just four magical intergalactic Gem creatures saving the universe. Completely normal." Garnet smiled a smug smile as she slid a pair of sunglasses over her eyes and ruffled his hair. Pearl rolled her eyes, Steven smiled brightly, and Amethyst went to work making a mess.  
Completely normal.


End file.
